ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of geographical differences on human serum metabolic profiles .Methods A total of 169 serum samples were collected from healthy individuals from 9 provinces in China and divided into four groups according to the geographical location .The nuclear magnetic resonance ( NMR) data of these samples were segmentally inte-grated, normalized,and analyzed with multivariate statistical methods using SIMCA-P 10.0 software to investigate the differ-ence in serum metabolites between eastern and western populations or between northern and southern populations .Results There were differences in a variety of small molecule metabolites in serum between eastern and western populations or be -tween northern and southern,including glucose,lipoproteins,amino acids,ketones,creatine and choline.Conclusion The geographical differences in a variety of factors (temperature,precipitation,folk culture, living habits,etc) result in the differences in human serum metabolic profiles ,which can provide appropriate reference for epidemiological studies and nu -tritional metabonomics .